


The Innocence Within

by Fantasys Mistress (CYH)



Category: The Evil Within (Video Game)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-29
Updated: 2015-06-03
Packaged: 2018-03-09 13:54:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3252251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CYH/pseuds/Fantasys%20Mistress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ruvik has entered the real world after escaping. Using Leslie's body, he tries to navigate his way around but finds it a lot harder than he first anticipated.<br/>However, Leslie is trapped in his own body as Ruvik controls it and finds himself unable to escape or even call for help. Will he be strong enough to fight off the evil that controls his body?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. New World

**Author's Note:**

> So I took a chance and decided to write a story based on what might happen after the game! I know that some things might not match the game 100% and that once the DLC game comes out I'm sure all of this will be useless anyway, but I thought why not have some fun? :D  
> I hope you enjoy this!

Ruvik stared up at Kidman who was hovering over his tub. She was looking down at what she thought was Leslie’s body, directing the others to leave his, Sebastian’s and Joseph’s bodies there. He tried not to move and show that he was awake, but a chill that he had been unfamiliar with for a long time wound its way through his body.

Kidman frowned, and looked at him closely, seeming to search for something in his eyes. Ruvik swore inwardly and shut his eyes as if he were tired. People always said that eyes were the windows to the soul, and he guessed they were right. It was as Kidman was seeing Ruvik through Leslie’s beautiful blue eyes.

 _‘What’s happening?’_ A thought flickered through his head. _‘Why can’t I move?’_

Typical. Ruvik wanted to bang his head against the side of the tub. Why did Leslie have to be so strong? Couldn’t he just leave his body in peace and quiet?

 _‘Ruvik?’_ A small tremor of fear accompanied the name as the boy communicated with him.

Ruvik wanted to laugh and mock him, telling him that he had lost everything and that he was now a slave, but he knew better. The more he angered someone like Leslie, the more unstable he would become. And who knows what Leslie could do.

Ruvik grimaced as the lights went out and he waited, wondering if it was some sort of trap. He wasn’t in his dreamscape anymore, and didn’t know how much he could control. But when nothing happened, he raised his wet head and glanced over the top of the white tub. He moved his hands to the edges, gritting his teeth in pain as one of the sharp edges neatly cut his hand. It didn’t stop him, however, from putting his weight on it and heaving himself from the wet tub.

He bit down a groan as his body screamed at him to sit down again. Well, not only his body but Leslie too, _‘Ruvik? Please! It hurts…’_

Ignoring the boy’s pleas, he shook water from his blonde hair. Hair! He put his hand through it with excitement. He hadn’t had hair since the fire! He brought his hand back down and stepped out of the tub, admiring how light and easy to move his body was. Ruvik glanced down at his outfit and frowned. The thick material was definitely catching water and making his body shiver in the lack of light. He started squeezing bit of the cloth, watching the water drain onto the floor.

He heard a groan further into the room and his head snapped up. Castellanos? Ruvik narrowed his eyes and followed the trail of empty tubs, and blood, around until he found a tub that still had a body in it. No, that wasn’t Castellanos, he thought, looking at the man who still managed to keep his glasses on in the tub while being unconscious. He was… _‘Joseph!’_ Leslie’s cry filled in the blank space for him, but he doubted he was remember it in the long run. He continued along until he found the man he was looking for.

Ruvik felt a surge of joy seeing that the man was alive, and he knew it came from both of them. Leslie was happy that his friend was still breathing, judging by the way the man’s chest was rising and falling, and Ruvik was happy because the man whose mind was almost as strong as his was still around to play with.

How was it that Castellanos was always escaping him in his own brain? Joanna, or whatever that man’s name was, was always easy to find. Kidman even more so which is why he had began to latch onto her in the hopes of finding Leslie. But when his creations found Castellanos, he always managed to either defeat them or get away. For Ruvik, it was like an itch he couldn’t scratch, and he knew all about that.

_‘Ruvik, stop scratching!’ his father’s hands slapped his away with an annoyed look. ‘I didn’t bandage you up to have you ruin it again!’_

_He let out an agonised sigh as he lay on the bed in his parent’s basement, feeling like his skin was crawling, ‘So what if I bleed again?’_

_‘Do you really want to join your sister that fast?’ his father snapped._

_Ruvik’s neck almost broke as he shot his father a stunned look, looking away from the wall he was so fond of staring at now. He didn’t want to hear anything about his sister, not from this man’s mouth anyway._

_‘Yes,’ he said softly. ‘No. I don’t know.’ It was the first time he had ever felt so confused._

_His father scowled, ‘Well figure it out before I waste any more resources on you.’_

_Ruvik was taken aback. Stunned, all he could do was nod, ‘Okay.’_

Ruvik shook his head, bouncing back to reality and staring down at the man he enjoyed calling ‘Seb’ just to annoy him. When he had called him that, he had seen a tick on the man’s jaw that symbolised his unspoken annoyance.

He reached down and touched Castellanos’ skin, finding it cold to the touch. He had better wake up soon or he would die there. Unless Kidman came back and woke him up. He knew Seb hadn’t woken up when he had, still caught in the world that was now his own. Castellanos would probably never realise, but for a while, he controlled the world that he had despised so much.

It almost made Ruvik smile.

He didn’t bother to wonder what the man had done with it. Knowing Castellanos’ hero complex he would have done something gallant and saved everyone from a monster that he had ended up creating in his own head.

Seb mumbled softly, leaning into Ruvik’s hand and he quickly snatched it back. If he woke, then Ruvik was in trouble. He could hear cars nearby and doors opening and closing as if someone was looking for them. Summoning what mental power he could, he walked out of the room, not making eye contact with anyone.

Nobody stopped him and he smirked to himself. Either he still had some sort of power, or he was just that uninteresting. He glanced down at himself and scratched the latter off his list considering he was in some sort of straight jacket and would raise suspicion anywhere.

So, some power left? He grinned, walking out of the building. He made it down the driveway, not looking at anyone and knowing they didn’t look at him. He glanced back up at the building he had come from and, to his surprise, saw Castellanos standing there. The man was shielding his eyes and stumbling as if he had had too much to drink, which was quite possible considering everything.

Ruvik grinned again, summoned his power, and disappeared.


	2. Angel of Music

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, here's another chapter for you all :3 Thank you to everyone who has read this story, and anyone who is going to continue reading!  
> I'm trying my best to match it to the game, but it does get a bit difficult because I don't exactly have a time frame as to what I can and can't use!  
> Anyway, I hope anyone reading likes this chapter!

Ruvik found himself lying in some dirty street, clutching at his head and screaming in pain.

_‘Too much!’_ Leslie sobbed, wanting to claw his own hair out but still unable to move.

Ruvik took deep breaths, trying to calm himself. He wasn’t sure what had happened but he hadn’t gone too far from the building he had just left. That and his head felt like it was on fire. He blinked in shock and thought about it rationally. He wasn’t in his own controlled world anymore, he was in the real world now. Maybe he needed something else?

“Leslie,” he growled. “Shut up in there!”

_‘Too much!’_ he continued to scream, ignoring Ruvik’s attempts to make him quiet.

“Leslie!” he roared and suddenly the boy fell silent. Thankful to have a moment to himself, Ruvik unsteadily got to his feet, taking in his surroundings. He was in a dirty road behind some buildings. Most likely an alleyway, he thought to himself. He glanced about and saw one another man huddled in the corner, a ratty blanket over his shoulders.

Look how far I’ve fallen to be sharing a street with a common street urchin, he thought to himself with a sneer.

“You!” he pointed at the man. “Tell me, are there any empty mansions around here that I can take?”

The urchin blinked at him slowly before opening his mouth, “Could be… Wha’ is it to ya?”

Ruvik narrowed his eyes, “I have asked you a question. If you refuse to answer me, I will kill you!”

“No’ much of a threat,” he laughed. It was a deep, painful noise, “Tha’ would be a blessin’.” He waved a hand down the street. “There’s a house. No’ a mansion. It’s down there somewhere. You’ll see it because it’s dirty. Like me.” He grinned, showing off his lack of teeth. Both Ruvik and Leslie recoiled in horror.

_‘Thank him,’_ Leslie urged. As Ruvik went to leave without saying anything, he added, _‘Please.’_

Ruvik made an irritated noise and turned back towards the man, “Thank you.”

“My pleasure,” the man tipped an imaginary hat before scratching at the fleas in his hair.

Ruvik turned away again, about to teleport them to their next destination before stopping. No, he might end up like last time, rolling around on the ground in pain. A very undignified position for someone like him. “We’re walking,” he announced to Leslie and he began to make his way down the street.

After a few minutes he began to hear Leslie humming in his head, “What song is that?”

_‘Angel of Music,’_ he replied softly. _‘It’s from an Opera.’_

“Fitting,” Ruvik chuckled to himself. Then he paused in his thoughts, “So little angel, when did you see an Opera?”

There was a swelling of sadness from Leslie, _‘I wasn’t always mad.’_

This time Ruvik fell silent for a few moments, walking along the empty streets, “Your mind is still stronger than most,” he said finally.

There was a small, ruthless laugh, _‘For the first time in a long time, my mind feels clear. But now I can’t even use my own body. Am I cured, or am I sinking into further madness?’_

Ruvik couldn’t answer that. Instead he let out a long sigh and murmured, “Sing the song to me as we walk.”

_‘Here in this room, he calls me softly; somewhere inside, hiding. Somehow I know he’s always with me; He, the unseen genius.’_

Leslie sang the whole way until they came across a dilapidated building. Bricks and mud coated the outside, and there was a strong scent of urine and illness coming from it. With a small shudder, Ruvik opened the door and entered the building, grateful to find it empty. Inside the tiny house there was about three rooms, all of them empty and none too useful. In fact, one was smeared with so much faeces that it was impossible to go into it without choking on the smell.

In the main room there was one dirty mattress, covered in who knows what, but it was what Ruvik needed. With a groan he collapsed onto it and curled up, suddenly grateful for the thick material of his garments.

Before he could doze off, his mind began filing away everything he had learnt about this new world and what would be useful. His power…

He gazed at his hands, wondering how on Earth he was meant to get stronger so he could get away and begin controlling the new world he was in. Finally he was no longer a brain and he could change the world with his experiments!

Sebastian… How did he do it? Ruvik frowned and concentrated. The man had been picking things up in his world and using them for something. But it had been hard to get into his mind and figure out what.

His hands shook with rage. How dare that man? How dare he try to beat him at his own game? How could Sebastian keep so many secrets when he was in a world he couldn’t control? Ruvik let out a small scream and fisted his hands in his hair, tugging roughly.

_‘Ruvik!’_

“Be quiet!” he snapped, letting his hair go. “I’m thinking! It’s hard using your incompetent brain!”

Green. His hands stopped shaking. Green. That’s what Sebastian had been collecting. Was it his samples?

He sat up in his bed, gazing at the equally filthy ceiling, his eyes widening in sudden understanding, “Brain fluid!” His face cracked into a huge grin. “He was using the brain fluid I had collected!”

 

*The song used is 'Angel of Music' from the musical  _The Phantom of the Opera._


	3. Needles and Mayhem

Ruvik’s eyes cracked open when he felt something wet hitting hit face. He wrinkled his nose against the putrid smell and looked up.

Standing above him, some man was urinating on him. Well, either him or the mattress, but either way it was hitting him. He felt Leslie begin to stir in the back of his mind as he growled, “What do you think you’re doing?”

The man opened one eye lazily, revealing vibrant red eyes that were gained either from rubbing too hard or too much alcohol. When he gave a small hiccup, Ruvik guessed the latter.

Ruvik ran one hand over his face, wiping the liquid away before he got to his feet. Leslie began to become fully alert, _‘Ruvik? What’s that smell?’_

He grit his teeth, trying to avoid the annoying voice. It just made him feel strange to know he was sharing a body with someone else. It also made him feel like he hadn’t been good enough to eradicate Leslie and that he wasn’t as powerful as he had first thought.

The man blinked at him and looked down at his hands that were still holding onto his junk, “Uh… man… I didn’t see you there…”

Ruvik eyed him off, “Did you really not see me there?”

“Nuh…”

“Here, sit,” he motioned to the mattress, gently patting a dry spot.

_‘Uh, Ruvik?’_ Confusion flooded through Ruvik due to Leslie feeling it. _‘What are you doing?’_

“Hush,” he spoke to both men at the same time as the drunk man lay down on the bed. “You might want to sleep for this.”

The drunk man’s eyes slid closed as Leslie began to fear what would happen next, _‘Ruvik, please. We’re not in your world anymore. This won’t work!’_

“Hush,” he murmured again, watching as the man fell asleep. The second he did, he began searching through the man’s pockets. Not just an alcoholic, he realised as he pulled out some needles, but a drug addict as well. He found a makeshift knife that looked like it was fashioned out of a can of soda and a rock. He slid it along his finger, and it cut, showing it was sharp.

_‘Ouch!’_

“Quit whining,” Ruvik murmured. “Like I said, go to sleep or disappear if you can’t handle this.”

_“I can’t! I have no control over this!’_

“Tough luck,” he shrugged, going to the man’s head. “What do you think he has more of? Identity? Or hope? I’m feeling hope.” He moved the man off his stomach and rolled him until he was on his back so he could access the hope centre of the brain. “I haven’t done this in a long time. Want to help me Leslie?” An answering whimper was all he got.

He grinned and levelled the makeshift knife with the man’s forehead, “This seems right.” He took the knife, swung his arm back, and slammed it into the man’s skull. The sickening crack had Ruvik smirking and Leslie screaming. “Oh shut up,” he chuckled to the man inside of him before he pulled his arm back. There was blood running down the drunken man’s face but he was still breathing. Good, Ruvik thought to himself, that meant the fluids would remain fresh.

Ruvik took the knife and began moving bits of skin and flesh out of the way, trying to get down to the bone. When he got to it, he grinned when he saw the break, “What a nice shape,” he murmured, pushing some of the bone out of the way.

There. The brain.

He sighed, looking at it in awe. This was what he had studied for so long, and this is all he had been for a very long time. He watched it pulsate slowly under the bone and smiled. He had perfect access to the area he wanted.

He got up and searched the man’s pockets again, knowing that he had felt the item before but had left it in his haste. Now, he realised he needed it. A box of matches. He pulled them out and lit one before picking up a needle and running its metal length along the flame. Although it looked clean, he could never be too careful and this was the best way he could sterilise it. Well, he hoped he was sterilising it. Once he was done, he put his face close against the other man’s and took a deep breath in. With a scowl, he realised all he could smell was the man’s piss and didn’t know if it was on him or the man.

With a noise of annoyance, he stabbed the needle straight into the man’s brain with the precision one can only get after practicing such a move many times over. The drunken man mumbled in his sleep and tried to wake up.

Ruvik focused on what he needed to do, pulling on the end of the syringe and pulling the sweet liquid into it. It wasn’t as clear as when he was in his world, as this one was mixed with blood and other strange things and wasn’t close to the colour green, but it was the best he was going to get.

Once he had filled it, he pulled it out and watched the man’s eyes flutter open for a moment before they fell shut again in exhaustion.

“Now, my turn,” he murmured.

_‘Don’t you dare! If you break my skull…’_

“You’ll what? Hit me?” he laughed. “I don’t have to break your skull. I have other ways in, but that was simply the easiest way for someone like him.”

_‘Ruvik, please… I’m scared.’_

“This will be quick,” he promised. “Just don’t start screaming again or I might just miss.”

He took the needle, held it up into the light so he could see it and its contents clearly, before turning it on himself and slamming it straight into his eye and beyond.


	4. Twins

“Don’t you just feel so much more energised?” Ruvik said gleefully, almost skipping around the house. “My brain feels… alive!”

_‘_ My _brain,’_ Leslie argued, a small waver to his voice. He still wasn’t completely over the needle to the eye, but the rush of energy that flooded his body had taken most of it away.

“Our brain,” Ruvik murmured, looking down at the homeless man who was still sleeping. He knelt down and touched the man’s cheek gently, turning his face from side to side. “My creations… I left them behind in a world that was destroyed. They’re all gone.”

_‘Good. They were evil,’_ Leslie felt a surge of terror from simply remembering those who had tormented him and his friends.

“Evil?” he chuckled. “No. Evil is not so black and white. Some people see me as evil simply because I cut into humans and experiment. But what about those people who perform an autopsy? Is it only evil if they’re alive?”

_‘Yes! They can feel it!’_

“What about Leonardo Di Vinci? He is seen as such a good man,” Ruvik said softly, burshing some of Leslie’s white blonde hair from his eyes. “He experimented on people who were alive, even pregnant women. It was in the name of science. And if he hadn’t done those things, science would not be as sophisticated as it is today. So, Leslie,” he addressed the man inside of his head, “tell me, who is more evil?”

_‘You,’_ he said, but his voice sounded uncertain. _‘Your experiments don’t help anyone.’_

Doubt had already been planted in Leslie’s mind. Ruvik smirked, touching the homeless man’s face again. “Do you not feel that power surging through our body?” he asked. “My experiments did that. My experiments created a whole new world where I was God. Wouldn’t you like to be one too?”

Leslie whimpered softly before saying, _‘Being a God would be lonely. There’s no one else like you. The God’s in most tales never had anyone who was their equal and usually fell to boredom. The more bored they got, the more evil they became. Being on top of the world causes your brain to rot, not matter how much brain juice you insert.’_

Ruvik grit his teeth in frustration. Why did Leslie always have to bother him? Why couldn’t the man just… conform? His grip on the homeless man tightened until he felt the man stir. He gazed down at him with a maniacal expression that looked odd on Leslie’s soft features. With Leslie’s soft blue eyes and gentle looking face, he looked like an avenging angel.

“I’m going out,” he announced.

***

Ruvik walked the streets of his new community with little interest. The people were dull and useless, but he knew he was now one of them so he needed to get things he would need. He already had a bucket on one of his arms that he had stolen once he had become invisible by warping the reality of the small minds around him.

Leslie had been prattling on about food so the bucket had been filled with strange foods and fruits that Ruvik hadn’t seen in a long time.

As they made their way back home, Ruvik gazed up at a bookstore. He stared at it for such a long time that Leslie had to ask if he was okay. Silently, he entered the store. He almost gravitated over to the music sheets and picked them up. Some of them he recognised and others he didn’t. Regardless, he added them to the bucket and walked further into the store. He came across the history section and eyed it off in interest before a name caught his attention.

Josef Mengele.

He picked the book up about the man and flipped through it, his eyes widening in interest and understanding, “What a beautiful mind…” he whispered to himself.

_‘No, Ruvik, put it down. He was a terrible man,’_ Leslie murmured.

“Then we’ll match,” he put the book into the bucket as well and, after mesmerising the store owner, walked out with his new ‘purchases’.

He made his way home slowly, picking up small odds and ends from stores as he passed. When he got back to the abandoned building he blinked in surprise. Now there were two men asleep on the mattress.

_‘It’s so sad,’_ Leslie murmured. _‘They have nowhere else to go.’_

Ruvik pulled out the things he had bought and put them in the corner before putting the bucket in the ‘bathroom’ area. “Tell me when you need to go,” he mumbled.

He almost felt Leslie roll his eyes although he knew it hadn’t happened, _‘It’s your body too. You’ll probably know before I do.’_

Ruvik sneered and left the room. It was true, he could feel the need, but he felt like if he made the choice to go it would be the same as giving into being a simple human. He was so much more than that.

He picked up the book he had bought and gazed at it, “So this… Mengele… What did he do?” He felt Leslie shudder and knew that whatever it was wasn’t good. He smirked and sat down, his back against the wall as he began to read.

Even he felt his eyes widen in surprise as he learnt about the man who had captured his interest. Dr Josef Mengele was a Nazi who experimented on people, especially children and with a major focus on twins. He wanted to see if there was anything special that twins had that others didn’t.

What interesting research, Ruvik thought to himself as he continued to read.

_‘Those poor children,’_ Leslie wept softly.

“I wouldn’t experiment on children,” Ruvik replied quietly, and then shook his head. Why on earth was he trying to consol Leslie? He was a parasite that wouldn’t let his body go.

Ruvik put the book down and sighed, pinching the bridge of his now delicate nose with Leslie’s fingers. It always came as a surprise to him not to feel the scars on his skin that had haunted him for so long.

Twins, he thought to himself. What was so interesting about twins? In his world he could create one creature that could recreate itself again and again with ease. That was almost like multiplying someone and creating a twin, wasn’t it? Twins…

His eyes snapped open and looked at the two men on the bed.

He scrambled to his feet, dropping his book in his haste and rushing to the men’s sides. He dropped to his knees, took their faces and looked at them. They didn’t look alike, but they were both white men. A smile grew on his face. Maybe this Mengele was onto something.

If he couldn’t create twins with a snap of his fingers, he would force them into existence.

“Leslie,” he murmured, standing back up. “We’re going to need more supplies.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who has read this far!! Just as a little side note, Josef Mengele was a real man who experimented on people during WWII and had a fascination with twins! His work is considered some of the worst seen in history.


	5. Sweet Choices

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry it has taken this long for another chapter!! You all have the right to virtually hit me!!  
> My oneshot ‘Addiction’ has gotten quite a few people asking for more! I think that once I’ve finished this one I might write a few chapters for that one to see if people are interested! :D  
> But yes, comment *punch* at me!! I deserve it!

‘Please don’t do this,’ Leslie whined internally. ‘Please don’t steal from a hospital!’

Ruvik rolled his eyes, “I think I liked you better when you could only say a few words at a time.”

Leslie sulked within him as Ruvik looted the hospital stores. He had walked over an hour to get there, not trusting the ‘metal contraptions’ that could have gotten them there faster. Leslie continued to complain as Ruvik filled a bad with medical supplies such as gauze and scalpels, while also taking a long, moveable metal table that he could easily put a body on.

He wheeled it along once he had gotten everything he needed and walked out of the hospital, mind bending people to forget he was there. As he set on the path towards their makeshift home, Leslie let out a long sigh.

‘I don’t see what you have against cars. They’re useful, really.’

Ruvik shook his head, “I am a man of science and I don’t trust anything that I don’t understand.”

‘Science usually relied on nature,’ Leslie pointed out softly, making a comment on Ruvik’s experiments.

“Nature is an abstract concept to me now,” he shrugged. “I used to believe that the brain could be triggered to feel specific emotions and can be moulded into the perfect creation. However, when my brain was used we learnt that it’s not only things such as fear and intelligence that can be provoked, but also pure, fantastical control over another.”

Leslie was silent for a moment before quietly saying ‘But you had to have your brain removed and jabbed at before that happened. That didn’t happen naturally.’

“Why says?” Ruvik questioned. “Some humans will hit their heads and suddenly find themselves a maths genius. Mine might have taken a few more hits to achieve it, but it did.” He listened to the boy’s silence again. “That’s why I call it abstract,” he murmured as he walked along, his feet beginning to ache against the harsh cement.

He glanced at a passing car longingly but knew it wasn’t a good idea. He’d only ever seen cars when his victims imagined them. While he had power in his own world, so did the humans to some extent. After he had escaped into Leslie’s body, Sebastian had taken over his body. Considering Sebastian hadn’t been conscious when Ruvik had been he supposed that Sebastian had still been under the influence of the dreamscape and had in fact created his own world that he needed to escape.

_I’m sure my death was glorious in his mind,_ Ruvik thought to himself with a small smirk. He knew Sebastian hated him. Although he touched the man’s brain more, he knew the detectives heart burned with hatred.

‘Ruvik?’ Leslie asked softly.

“Yeah?” Ruvik replied.

‘Why are you still doing things like this? You’re fine. Why not settle down and create a nice life for yourself?’

“Do you think we could live in harmony?” Ruvik laughed bitterly. “Besides, I’m not interested in such a mundane existence.”

Leslie groaned, ‘Mundane isn’t bad!’

“But it’s boring,” Ruvik reminded. He found their street, realising with shock that he had been thinking and talking so much that an entire hour had gone by. Time moves so quickly in this place, and it confused him at times.

Ruvik reached their house and opened the door, hearing Leslie begin to whimper loudly.

‘Please don’t hurt them!’ he begged. Ruvik could almost imagine Leslie on his knees before him; hands clasped so tightly that the whites of his knuckles would match the white blonde strands of his soft hair. At that thought, he run a hand through his hair, feeling the silky texture and immediately relaxing.

“Leslie,” he murmured. “You should go to sleep inside and ignore what’s going to happen here.” He didn’t know why he was protecting the boy, but he just felt the natural instinct to do so.

Leslie let out a tiny sob, ‘No! I can’t sleep knowing they’re in pain.’

Ruvik brushed off any feelings he had and shrugged, his voice and eyes growing hard, “Suit yourself!”

He moved the table into the middle of the room and took the equipment off it so that he had an empty space to work with.

“Tell me,” he murmured to Leslie as he took one of the sleeping homeless men and put him on the table. “Have you ever read Frankenstein?”

‘No,’ Leslie replied in a quivering voice.

“Well,” he chuckled, his voice deep and mocking, “you’re about to find out how Frankenstein created his murderous monster.”

He could feel Leslie quivering within him as he picked up a scalpel, “I want them to look the same,” he murmured to himself. He took the knife to the man’s skin, about to pierce it before he stopped himself. “Silly me, I almost forgot.” He picked up some pills. He crushed them in his hand and pushed them into the man’s mouth, forcing him to swallow.

‘Morphine?’ Leslie guessed.

“That’s right,” he hummed, picking his scalpel up again and finally bringing it down on the man’s jaw. He cut like any doctor would, with skill and precision. The difference between a doctor and Ruvik was that doctors cut to save lives. Ruvik was cutting for sheer pleasure.

Once he had cut all the way around the face, he chuckled again, “Let’s see if it will all come up in one strip.” He began pulling and cutting, forcing the skin to remove itself from the muscle. The homeless man stirred and moaned in pain, but between the morphine, alcohol and sleep deprivation, there wasn’t anything he could do to save himself.

Ruvik finally pulled the skin off the man’s face and held it up to the window. _Beautiful,_ he thought to himself, looking at the way the Sun caught the bloody edges and made them glisten.

‘You’re disgusting,’ Leslie sulked, trying to ignore the skin.

“Let’s move onto the other man,” he breathed.

‘No!’ Leslie shouted. Suddenly, Ruvik’s fingers extended out, dropping the skin. Ruvik paused, staring at his hands. He definitely hadn’t done that. Was it just an accident, or had Leslie controlled him for a brief period of time?

“Leslie?” he growled, reaching down and picking up the skin.

‘What was that?’ Leslie gasped in wonder. ‘I had my body back! Oh Ruvik, give me my body back! We can do this together!’

“Do you think for one moment I would give you your body back? What would you even do?” he yelled back, ignoring the groans that were growing louder behind him. “I bet you would frolic with flowers!”

‘I would not frolic with flowers,’ Leslie whispered. ‘I would see my friends. Sebastian was so kind to me. And I need to check up on Joseph to see if he’s alright.’

Ruvik sneered, “They won’t find you. Anyway, the second they do they’ll kill you. They think you’re gone and that it’s just me controlling your body. You would be dead in an instant. Save yourself the trouble.”

Silence reigned between them for a moment before Leslie murmured, ‘Why do you have to be so cruel?’

Ruvik laughed and went over to the groaning man before slapping the skin onto the man’s open face. He put the skin on upside down and pulled out some stitches. He began to weave his way around the skin with a needle, reattaching the face but on the wrong way, “Haven’t you figured it out yet? I enjoy it! People are so weak! So obsessed with what they look like and what they’re doing and stressing out about whether or not someone is judging them for something. I let all that go! I am human, but in its most pure and base form. You don’t like to admit it, but you could be this cruel. Study upon study have proven that!”

‘But there’s still choice,’ he whispered back. ‘I choose not to be cruel.’

Ruvik nodded slowly and stepped back to look at creation, “Yes, choice is what makes us different. But I had mine taken away from me over and over again. Who says I’m choosing to do this?”

The monster on the bed groaned again, bloody red lips parting in agony.

 


	6. Promises, Promises

‘It’s hideous,’ Leslie whispered in a frightened voice. It was all too much for him; staring at the two creatures Ruvik had created.

Ruvik, however, was filled with pride as he gazed upon his creations. It was almost a maternal instinct that he had for them.

“I need to control them,” he said, his tone annoyed. Although he could still reach out and touch their brains, controlling them that way took too much energy and effort. He had to figure something else out. He had searched through the books about Mengele, but so far nothing seemed to come to light.

Ruvik had bit Leslie’s fingers down into a ragged mess, something the boy inside despised but didn’t comment on. “Drugs?” he muttered to himself as he began to pace. “No, they get too irrational. They could do anything.”

‘How about letting them go?’ Leslie asked softly.

“I’m sure they’ll fit right in with humans,” he chuckled. “We’re always such a kind and forgiving lot, aren’t we?”

‘I think we can be,’ the boy said quietly, but Ruvik could tell he was uncomfortable.

“The same people who locked you up for years are kind?” he started laughing. “The same people who made me into nothing but a brain? Oh, the kindness oozes out of this breed of animal!”

‘You’re now one of those breeds!’ Leslie exclaimed, struggling with his inner turmoil. He didn’t want to start despising humanity like Ruvik did, but his love for them wasn’t exactly shining. The doctors who experimented on him, trying new things from shock therapy to water boarding to see if it would awaken his thoughts did nothing but scare him half to death. He was used to cowering away and running from most humans. That is, until he met Sebastian and Joseph.

Sebastian seemed to trust him and care for him and always tried to keep him safe, no matter what. He was a man he could see as a sort of father figure. Joseph was quieter and gentler. He seemed to rely on Sebastian a bit, but Leslie could see the absolute trust in his eyes. One day, he had hoped that the three of them could be friends. He would have loved to have shown them to places he adored, and seen their most beloved places in return.

For Joseph, he guessed the man would favour a quiet place. Maybe a garden or a library. Sebastian would probably like… a gun range, perhaps?

“I know you’re thinking of them,” Ruvik’s voice cut into Leslie’s thoughts. “You should stop. They didn’t care about you. They cared about getting out of my head.”

Leslie whimpered softly and went completely silent.

Ruvik rolled his eyes at the dramatics and stared at his creatures. “Drugs… acid… What if I erode their brains away? But a certain part of it, like freewill? Choice? Yes!”

He went to a blank piece of paper and began scrawling formulas for an acid he had been developing before he had been changed, “Leslie, this is it!”

‘What is?’ Leslie sullenly asked, looking blankly at the letters.

“This is how I’ll control them. I don’t need anything but good old science!” He gathered some things with Leslie’s delicate hands and began creating. “I don’t even need anything special. Water, milk…” he rattled off a bunch of ingredients, some of them going straight over Leslie’s head.

‘Can’t you just make a cake?’ Leslie begged. ‘Half of those ingredients can make cakes!’

Ruvik ignored him, shaking up the last of his concoction in a small, plastic bottle before bringing the syringe out again. “We might have to pull their faces off again.”

If Leslie were his own person, he would have thrown up at that statement. Instead, with Ruvik having great control over the body they now shared, nothing happened.

He filled the syringe up and looked at it, “Perfect. Now, I just need to get to the back of his brain.” He sighed and stared at the bodies before shrugging. “I’m going to have to crush their skulls a bit.”

Leslie cried out in anger and fear, ‘Ruvik, this is enough! You can’t do this! You’re human too!’

Ruvik chuckled, “I thought we had spoken about my opinions on humans.”

‘But you’re different!’ Leslie begged. ‘People don’t usually hurt other people. You can walk out of here together. We can get you a girlfriend or something!’

The man who used to be nothing cracked up laughing, “A girlfriend? I really don’t think I need one of those. The only woman I loved was my sister, and now she’s gone.”

Ruvik walked up to the creatures and turned them over, relishing their groans of pain. He patted the area he knew he would need before grabbing a heavy piece of metal from the hospital bed. He had already disassembled them to see how they worked, and he had removed the piece that made it fold up. He didn’t need that at all with what he was doing.

He took the metal pipe, took in a deep breath, and swung, hitting the area he had patted not moments ago. He felt Leslie recoil at the wet cracking sound that occurred when the pipe hit the man.

Ruvik saw blood, so he took it as a good sign. He put down the pipe and felt the back of the man’s head. Definitely cracked!

He peeled away at some of the skin with his fingers, disregarding the issue of disease or infection. He was able to move a piece of the skull bone away and it revealed a brain. It was darker than most, due to the alcohol and drug abuse that had been inflicted on it all its life. It also seemed a bit dry, but Ruvik thought he might be over thinking it in his excitement.

He jabbed the needle into the right part and injected his liquid, before closing the hole up and giving it a rough stitch up with whatever he could find lying around.

Ruvik repeated the same action with the second man before he realised Leslie had gone completely silent.

“Leslie?” he asked softly, trying to see if he was around. “Leslie?”

‘Leave me alone!’ A small sob accompanied his yelp.

Ruvik let out a soft sigh, “I had to do it.”

‘No you didn’t!’ he shrieked, trying to curl himself up in the corner of Ruvik’s mind.

“You didn’t try to stop it.”

‘I can’t stop it! You have my body!’

“Last time your mood swung so heavily that you were able to take control for a few seconds,” he reminded, and then cursed himself. Why did he have to remind the boy about that? It could give him ideas!

‘Ruvik,’ he whispered. ‘I don’t want to regain control over this body. As long as you’re in here, I don’t want it!’

The last few words were shouted and Ruvik jerked back in shock. Leslie was always so… submissive. What suddenly happened that changed him so much? Ruvik had put a needle straight through his eye ball and yet this was what affected him the most?

“What if I promise these two will be the only ones?” he asked quietly. “I won’t make any more. I’ll do something else with my free time for now.”

There was silence, and Ruvik wondered if he’d made the right call. Suddenly there was a tiny, ‘You promise?’

Ruvik suddenly found himself smiling. He looked over at his two creations and nodded, “Yeah, I promise. For you.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter after so long!! University has just ended for me! Well, the first semester anyway :P  
> I know it’s been a while, but I’m hoping some people are still interested in this fanfic!  
> Leave me likes, comments, reviews etc. SHOW ME THE LOVE >:D


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